The Stanton Street Weekly Newsletter: Parshat Vayigash
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Parshat Vayigash Week of December 26, 2025 6 Tevet 5786 Wishing you and your family Shabbat Shalom!
The month of Tevet represented in the Mazalot in our Sanctuary.
Friday, December 26, 2025 • 6 Tevet 5786
Candle lighting at 4:16pm
Shabbat, December 27, 2025 • 7 Tevet 5786
Shacharit services in shul will begin promptly at 9:30am
Services will be followed by Kiddush at 12:00pm. Everyone is welcome! Kiddush is sponsored by the house.If you want to sponsor Kiddush, please email info@stantonstshul.com
Havdalah at 5:21pm
We have security for all services from 9:30am to 1:00pm.
Tuesday, December 30, 2025 • Fast of 10 Tevet
Fast begins at 5:52am
Fast ends at 5:23pm
Shabbat Chanukah Community Dinner - Recap
A warm, beautiful dinner was enjoyed by 45 members of our community this past Friday. We came together to light Chanukah candles, eat surprisingly large latkes, hear divrei Torah from Rabbi Birkeland, and play intense games of dreidel for chocolate coins.
Thank you again to our generous dinner sponsors: Aliza & David Deutsch Holly Wolf Judith Josephs Lina Morales Margie Segal Sharon Itkoff & Steve Nacache Tricia Davies & Jeremy Blumenfeld
Thank you, as well, to Rabbi Birkeland for leading us in prayer and Torah and to Penina for coordinating the dinner. Penina would like to inform you that it's completely normal to sprinkle sugar on your latkes, and to try it next year for a salty / sweet treat. Stay tuned for future events!
Dear Friends, This week we read Parshas Vayigash in which Yosef, his brothers, and Yakov are all finally reunited in full. This reunification starts with a confrontation. The word vayigash means to approach and in the midrash, the Sages are split as to its implications. R’ Yehudah says it implies approaching to make battle, R’ Nechemiah says it implies approaching in order to placate, and the Rabbis say it implies prayer (in which case Yehudah is really approaching God more than Yosef). R’ Eliezer resolves these varied understandings by saying that all implications are present here: “If it must be to make war, I am approaching; if I must placate, I am approaching; if I must pray, I am approaching”.
It is certainly the case that however we understand Yehudah’s approach, there is a clash here between two powerful figures. In a few places, the midrash describes the rest of the brothers purposefully taking a back seat in this debate. They say about Yehudah and Yosef that “two kings are arguing, what concern is this of ours?” We have discussed Yehudah and Yosef as two archetypes of competing forms of piety or righteousness. Yosef exemplifies an almost perfect, clean, righteousness. Through his dreams and understanding, he is intimately linked to the Divine Will and the ugliness and temptations of the world around him are muted and often transcended. Yehudah, on the other hand, comes to righteousness through the ugliness and turmoil of the world around him. He is acutely aware of life’s trials and tribulations, has been on the giving and receiving end of injustice, and finds his way through the mud to then also access the Divine Will from the other direction.
So too the clash in our parsha is a clash in these orientations. Yosef is calculated in his actions. He is pulling strings behind the scenes to bring about the fulfillment of God’s will, as he understands it, and even the distress and complications it causes to his loved ones are muted in the face of this lofty mission. Yehudah approaches Yosef as an afflicted party, aware of how he himself has harmed his father and terrified by the possibility of his father being harmed further. The great distress and hurt is painful in such a way that this cannot be right and Yosef must be confronted. Though this confrontation is intense, we see that it leads to reconnection and reconciliation rather than further destruction. Yosef and Yehudah, both trying to do the right thing but from opposite directions, were able to argue and contend in a way that ultimately brought them closer and repaired what had long been broken.
Shabbat shalom, Rabbi Birkeland
StantonKIDS Shabbat Programming 5786
Join us 10:30am-12:00pm for free play, davening, parsha, songs, movement, a hands on activity, and delicious kiddush! Here is our schedule for the rest of the 5786 school year:
January 17, January 24 February 7, February 28 March 14, March 28 April 18, April 25 May 9, May 16 June 6, June 13
Women's Tefillah Group Programming Schedule
Come Daven With Us in 5786!
Parshat Shemot & Slater Schwartzberg’s Bat Mitzvah - January 10 Parshat B'shalach - January 31 Megillat Esther Reading - March 2 Parshat Emor - May 2 Parshat Nasso - May 30 Parshat Korach - June 20
If you would like to layn, lead services, or give a d'var Torah with us, or if you have questions, please be in touch!
Happy Birthday! Dana Friedman (December 29)
Misheberachs (we wish a full recovery to):
Arella Hana bat Haya Liba Ashlynn Elizabeth Helen Coffman Barry Feldman Cecile Cohen זיאסל מלכה בת אסתר Chaim Tzvi ben Leah Chaim Yonah ben Dubrah Chana Mera bat Fruma Henna Chaya Malka bat Esther Leia David Menashe HaLevi ben Rochel Efraim Ben Sore Eliyahu Natan ben Shayndel Ella bat Leah Gitche bat Honcha Hiam Zelig Ben Sarah Rifka Israel Yakov ben Esther Jim Lee Leah Zahava Bat Elka Liba Miriam bat Channah Devorah ליבה מרים בת חנה דבורה Manny Kaplan מאיר ראובן בן לאה Moshe Asher Ben Esther Sarah Nolan Rhodes נתן צבי בן פרידה Rachel Devorah bat Elke Reuven ben Rochel Risha bat Sarah Rivka bat Miriam Sara Rochel Ben Chaya Gitza Shayna bat Chana Kayla Shimon Sumer HaLevi Ben Malka Shoshana bat Esther שושנה בת אסתר Yaacov Ben Chaya Gitza Yisroel ben Edlah Yitzhak Calev ben Leetza Tzvia
We pray that all who are sick may have a full recovery. We are especially sending prayers to those who are wounded and in need of healing.
To add a name to our communal misheberach prayer list,email us. If you have a Yahrtzeit, birthday, anniversary or other milestone coming up, please reach out! We'd like to update our Yahrtzeit database. Pleasesend us your yahrzeit details. If you don't know the exact Hebrew date, just let us know the date of passing, and we will figure it out and add it to the Shul Cloud calendar.
For those of you who have not yet renewed your membership with us, kindly pay your dues online or mail a check to: The Stanton Street Shul P.O. Box 1008 NY, NY 10002
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If you missed services this past Shabbos, or arrived too late to hear the drasha, you can go to our archives and read a copy! Click here for an archive of shiurim Clickherefor an archive of drashot Clickhere to go to our YouTube Channel for an archive of all of our ZOOM classes
